[m1rr0r dash]

Originally Posted by [B

atari 2600[/b]]Life is art in every sense. As Pollock was fond of saying, "Art and life are one...inseparable." It can be good art or bad depending on

sure, life is art - and as this book points out

 

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

you've smoked a lot of pot tonight haven't you?

I don't smoke pot. My brain is naturally fucked.

[Rob Instigator]

the human body with exception of the brain and the bones, is completely replaced by itself (all it's cells completely replace themselves on the order of 5-6 times a year.) the atoms that make up your body and that yhou are eatinga nd drinking and inhaling and rubbing into yr skin are the same atoms that have been rolling around on the earth for over 5 billion years and before that were inside of a star for several billion years.

you inhale dust (most;ly dead human skin cells) that contains atoms that were parts of those you come in contact with.

[atari 2600]

Yeah, that's wild stuff and all perfectly accurate. Also, atoms are mostly composed of empty space...which really seems weird when you think about it.

[Cantankerous]

can someone explain to me the concept of empty space? there has to be SOMETHING in there, doesn't there? even the free air is not empty space, there are all kinds of things in the air.

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

no, there doesn't have to be anything. When you get down to the quantum level, either something is there or nothing is there.

[Rob Instigator]

Originally Posted by Cantankerous

can someone explain to me the concept of empty space? there has to be SOMETHING in there, doesn't there? even the free air is not empty space, there are all kinds of things in the air.

here we go


e,pty space in the macro world is the space between atoms of matter. that space is empty of matter. However, even in the truest vaccum of deep space, that "space" is fuil of constantly flying radiation, gamma rays, x rays, radio waves, etc. there is energy there, but the space is devoid of matter

now, even that wholly empty space, when you look at it close enough, and at small enough distances, is not truly "empty"

quantum mechanics states that at a level smaller than the Planck length, (the absolute smallest distance that we can measure or say anything meaningful about , around 1.6 × 10−35 meters ) spacetime itself is actually more of a froth of particles popping in and out of existance lasting less than the Planck time (the amount of time a photon travelling at light speed would take to cross the planck length, ridiculously short amount of time)

due to the energy always present in event the deep3est vaccum, these "virtual particles" will pop into existance, a particle and it's anti-particle, andinstantly annihilate themselves, before the planck time has elapsed.

there is no true "empty space"

[atari 2600]

The majority of the atom, any atom, even an atom of the most solid material, is empty space. Atoms are intrinsic units due to the tiny electrons orbiting the the nucleus at light speed that bind it together and lead to atoms forming together and repelling each other through molecular chemistry.
These electromagnetic and gravitational energy forces, part of which Rob described in greater detail with the "virtual particles" are present in the large virtually empty space of the atom,
but it is without matter or mass as we think of the terms. There's a nucleus and then there's lots of empty space, and then there's the tiny electrons buzzing around at light speed.

Now, true, scientists are trying to work out gravity as both a particle and a wave (like light) in their theoretical study of the gravitron nanoparticle, but essentially, the space is empty. I'm not saying that Rob is wrong, and I am not wrong either. It's just that there are points to be elucidated further. It's interesing stuff since obviously the gravitational force, which occurs at the speed of light, is what orders the natural laws of the universe.

http://education.jlab.org/qa/atomicstructure_10.html
If atoms are 99.999999999999% empty space then why don't things pass right through them?
Things don't fall through other things because they are levitating on an electrostatic field! I am not kidding! When you sit on a chair, you are not really touching it. You see, every atom is surrounded by a shell of electrons. This electron cloud presents a rather negative face to the world. Remember that like charges repel each other. When two atoms approach each other, their electron shells push back at each other, despite the fact that each atom's net charge is 0. This is a very useful feature of nature. It makes our lives a lot easier.
Now the question you should be asking is, if atoms push away from each other, why doesn't the entire universe just blow away from itself? The answer is that some, actually most atoms' electron shells are not full. When two atoms come together and have empty spaces in their electron shells, they will share electrons to fill in the spaces in both of their shells. Yes, the electrons really do go back and forth between atoms and they do so pretty fast. Electrons tend to be kind of mobile, which is also a very nice feature of nature, since without it your walkman would not work. Once both atoms' outer shells are full due to this electron sharing, they go back to their usual repulsive behavior. This, by the way, is how we get molecules and the secret to understanding Chemistry. It's all about the electrons!

[Rob Instigator]

it's all about the electrons!

[atari 2600]

Like you originally stated, "empty" is somewhat misleading because there are energy fields in the vast "empty" areas, & in that way it can be stated loosely that inner space is akin to the vacuum of outer space.

Thing is, those electrons are moving so fast that they are almost in many places at once. I would imagine that a diamond has a whole lot of electrons whipping around constantly.

this story I read the other day was interesting
Their Deepest, Darkest Discovery
Scientists Create a Black That Erases Virtually All Light
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...nation/science